The VFX Of Baahubali - A Behind The Scenes Look At The Biggest Indian Film Ever!

That Baahubali is the biggest Indian film of all time is too well established to be stated again. While we all admired and enjoyed the larger than life movie, we heard very little from the brains that created the larger than life extravaganza.

Junaid – VFX producer at Firefly Creative Studios (one of the principle VFX studios for Baahubali) spoke at PIFF a couple of months back, about the research that went into creating the characters, sets and the effects of the film. The session was moderated by Ujwal Nirgudkar – Chairman, the Society of Motion Picture and Television Engineers.

“This movie gave us the confidence that even though we can’t compete with Hollywood films; we can design and create it visual effects as per international standards,” said Junaid. The collaboration between the director S.S. Rajamouli and Firefly studio started in the year 2013. It took almost two years to finish the project. The VFX artists came from all around India. Needless to say much detailing was required for every frame and the team had to endure great amount of patience.

Baahubali was made with a budget of 120 crores and made business of 600 crores. The road to accomplishment was industrious and involved through research. Firefly designed specific questionnaire, Entertainment Design Pattern, for every character in the film and ensured the director answers them comprehensively. This gave them indepth understanding of the character in the film. “The questionnaire helped us not only to understand and design the characters but also design mass/ crowd shoots. Even in the wide shoots of the war we wanted to be specific. Detailing makes a great difference “said Junaid.

The session became all the more interesting after watching the pre & post production stills of the movie. When asked if VFX would kill the reality in cinema, Junaid quickly answered, “The aim of VFX is not to kill reality. In fact we want to get the motion picture as close to reality as possible. Yes the way we look at films and the filmmaking process will definitely change. Filmmakers will want us to not only see films but also feel them, be part of them”.

Sadly we can't find, nor share the stills that he showed on the occasion. But here's a very insightful video by Tau Films, another firm that worked on the VFX of the film, that takes you through the process.